Iran unveils new missile

November 27, 2007 10:00am

Iran unveiled a new strategic missile.

The Defense Ministry in Tehran announced Tuesday it had developed a new missile, called Ashura, which has a range of 1,250 miles – enough to hit Israel, U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf, and parts of eastern and southern Europe.

The announcement appeared timed to overshadow the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis, Md., which the Arab League has endorsed and Iran has condemned.

The Ashura’s reach is not significantly greater than that of the Shihab-3, until now Iran’s most menacing ballistic missile. But Israeli experts said that unlike the Shihab series, the Ashura uses a multi-stage, solid-fuel engine that would make it especially effective for long-range strategic use.